Method of sounding



1 1,547,575 R. D. FAY

METHOD OF SOUNDING July 28, 1925.

Original Filed. May 2, 1921 2 Sheets$heet 1 July 28', 1925. 1,547,575

R. D. FAY

METHOD OF SOUNDING Original Filed May 2, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented" July -1 925 I "1 .UNITED STA TE'S mc'nnnn n. FAY, OF murmur, unsssonusmzrs, nssxenon ro-sumrnmlm 'sreiu'x.

COMPANY, or nos'ron, mssncnusn'rrs, A conroaa'rron or MAINE.

n man c]: or soummw.

Original. application me Ma 2,1921. Serial at. 486,363. Divided and thisapplication filed uni-en.

' 1,1924. 'S 'ial'1i'o.096,391. I

To all qebom z't may concern."

Be, it known that I, It CHARD D. FAY, of Nahant, in thecounty ofv ssex and State of Massachusetts, a. citizen of the United States, have invented a new-and useful Improvement in Methodsof Sounding, of

which the following is'a specification.

This application is a division of application, Serial No. 466,353, filed by me May, 2,

I have made a new and useful improvement in methods for determining the depth of water beneath a floating body such as a ship. In one metho d, which, has been described and used to a limited extent in the past, a sound impulse is created and a mech- .anism is provided whereby the time taken for the sound to reach the bottom and be reflected back to the ship can be measured and the depth thus calculated. This device can'be used successfully when great depths of water are to be measured and, consequently, the -time between the emission and the reception of the signal is fairly long. The device, however, has been found unsatisfactory for use in shallower water where soundings are ofgreatest importance.

Another form of acoustical sounding device, which has been used in the past, is one in whichthedirection is ascertained from which a sound, reflected from the I H oceans bottom, reaches the sound receiving device, the source of sound being at a known distance from the sound receiver. This evice is objectionable on account of the 1naccuracies which result from the limited separation between the sound setting and thesound receiving-devices, imposed by the necessity of mounting both upon :a ship, upon the effect of irregularities in the sur- .,face of the oceans bottom, and upon the skill required in ascertaining theangleof the direction from which sounds are coming. 1 The method WhlCh I have invented is free from the. objectionable features inherent 1n all other knowndevices, as with it 1- arm able to measrirealldepths of water and, regardless of the character of the ocean bot tom, obtain accurate measurements of depth without requiring the services of, trained observers. v

The method which I employ is one in which the time of travelof sound waves to the bottom and back is employed and" is the other novel in that Iem loy two paths betwe'en the source of soun and the receiving indicater, which may be either electrical :or acoustical. One path is between the sound source and the. indicator device and does not include the water beneath the ship; the

other is to the water, through the water to the ocean bottom and back to a sound receiver, and from the sound receiver to the indicator. .The first path, i. e. from thesound source to the indicator, is usuall'yentirely on shipboard and the time of travelof.

.waves over this path can be easily known" the line of travel is variable between the source and the indicator, and to use as a source of the sound-which travels over both paths, a sound impulse such as might be produced by an explosion or discharge, or, by the collapse of an evacuated bulb,.or by a blast from an oscillator or from a similar device, as was donebyFessendenin the meth- 0d of sounding first referred to'above (see his Patent No. 1,217,585). In such an arrangement as I propose '(the, imported energy preferably origmating below the water line) the time of travel over the direct path would be varied until the arrival of the same sound impulse, over the two paths would coincide. It becomes thereafter a simple matter. to measure the equivalent water length of the first, .or inboard ath,

andto calculate or record directly the epth of water beneath the-ship.

I have found it a sounding device'tousei separate instru-' cate'such instruments in the ship 'in such a way that no sound is carriedirom one to a by. any other. thanthetwo paths above described.'

of distinct advantage in ments for sending and receiving-and to lo- By such an arrangement I havfl eii able i to overcome one of the most serious difli-. culties which has been found in the use of a method in which the time of sending and the time of receipt of the reflected sound wave is measured. When the same device is used. both for sending and recelving, it has been found that the sound producing device cannot be made so highly damped that suitable manner the sound Waves roduced by the sender directly to the indicator, so'

that all characteristics of the waves produced by the sender are transmitted by both paths. The result of this arrangement is that, even if'the motion of the sound produced persists, owin to the elasticity of its parts-or for any ot er reason, the charac-- teristics of the waves in both paths are the same and can be made so to combine at the indicator that no inaccuracies result.

Again, I have found it of distinct advantage (through not essential) to use a source of continuous sound waves and to' 30 create some characteristic and easily recog-' changes is made such that the sound wave or waves resulting from the first change will reach the indicator over the water path at the same time thatthe second or a succeeding change reaches the indicator over the first or non-water path. The indicator shows when the changes of sound of the first chang reach it over the water path at the same time that thesounds of the second change reach it over the more direct path. If the interval between these changes is known, the length of the water path and hence the depth of the water beneath the ship can be readily-ascertained. Thus the depth is a function of the length of the interval between changes and, as the length of the interval is controllable, varying depths can be quickly and accurately deterinined.

I have used several methods of produc-- ing these characteristic and readily recognizable changes. One way of accomplishing theselphanges, which is sim 1e and has certain advantages, is to vary t e intensity of the waves produced by the sound source at intervals which can be varied at will. A distinct advantage of using such a method -aris'es' from the fact that as the sound source is always tuned to a 'definitepitch, receiving devices and tuned circuits can be used with the result that greater efiects can be made upon the indicator for the same expenditure of energy, or smaller energy is. required to produce the same efiect upon the indicator. In this-arrangement there is, therefore, a sound wave ,of constant pitch which at controllable intervals increases for an instant in intensity. The sound waves thus corres ond to the, carrier 'current waves. whic has been used in wireless, telephoning and these carrier current waves are intensified above-the normal waves at controllable and known intervals of time. Another method which I have used is similar to the above except that instead of increasing th intensity of the sound at controllable intervals, I retain the intensity the same but change the frequency and so change the pitch of the sound at intervals as may be desired. The percentage change is not large and the duration of the variation period is extremely" limited The note roduced during the variation period will e out of tune with the normal frequency at the indicator, at all times, except those in which the line of travel of the sound waves to the ocean bottom and back is an exact multiple of the period between variations. The indicator shows when waves are in tune or when out of tune an means are iven to the observer whereby the interval between the periods of frequency changes is lengthened or shortened until the frequency changes in the two sets of waves occur simultaneously. W

As an illustration of my invention I de scribe below electrical apparatus all of a character well known-by which it may be carried out, but I do not mean to limit myself to such apparatus, for it will be understood by those skilled in the'ar't that such a method may be carried out by acoustical (i. e. mechanical) apparatus or by a combination of acoustical and electrical means.

Such apparatus is shown diagrammatically in the drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a simple form of apparatus for the purpose and F ig. 2.a more elaborate form.

Fig. 3 is a detail of a paratus shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a modification of said detail.

Fig. 5 shows a third apparatus by which my method ma be carried out.

Figs. 6 and show details thereof.

In describing the connections between the various instruments, by which indications of sound may be conveyed,.I use below the word path or paths without necessarily meaning to differentiate between mechanical (i. e. acoustical) and electrical connections; for such indications may be conveyed by either means, according to the kind of apparatus used, and in carrying out my method I utilize onlythe sound indica- "tions which travel by such aths.

Fig. 1 illustrates the simplest arrangeportion of the apment embodying the fundamental principle of m invention. A is the source of power whic is conducted inv any suitable manner,

such as by wires 6, to-the submarine sound roducing device E, such for exam le as a essenden oscillator. Sound pro ucer E creates underwater waves of sound which pass throughv the water, for example by A path 0 to the ocean bottom G, where the the waves are reflected and pass up through the water by path d to sound receiver F, such as-xa mlcrophone. The sound waves then pass by path f from F to the indicator H, shown as a head piece. I provide a second path 6 from the sound producer E to the indicator H. In path 6 a modulator B is iilserted by means of-which the time that any particular sound will reach the indicator H can be controlled. This modulator consists of an electrical or adjustable mechanical pneumatic device, such as a compensator of ordinary and .well known construction, by means of which the time of travel of the sound waves can be increased or decreased until the time required for the sound to travel from E to H by path 6 is equal to that whichis required for it to travel by path 0' d f. lVhen the sounds over these two paths are equalized in times of arrival at H, the length of the two paths must be equal and a calibration on the modulator, oricompensator B will show the depth of water.

" beneath the ship. Any suitable form ofinrival dicator canbe used to note the simultaneous arrival-of the sound waves at the indi- "cator. Probably the simplest way of accomplishing this is by means of a head piece, one member I). of which isconnected to the path e to one ear and the other h to the path f. a When a sound reaches one ear before it reaches the other, the sound will appear to come from the side at which the ar is the earlier. .When the times of arrival are'the same, the sound appears to be "centered in the headof the observer.-

' Fig. 2-i1lustrates in schematic form an- A otherarrangement of the apparatus which I. have used in carrying out my invention. Ais the source of electrical power which is carried by wires 0., or in. an other suitable manner, through the, modu ator B. to the sound producer or oscillator E. By the movement of an arm-D, wheel or similar device, the period between variations can be I from B to the submarine sound producer by.

chan ed at will. and the amount of. themterva indicated onscale G, which is calibra-ted to read directly the depth ofwater beneath the ship.

' A mechanism at which may be usedv in producing the variations is described below.

The electrical current waves are transmitted path" I). The sound proceeds from the sound producer E to the'ocean bottom G, as by path 0, and by reflection from G to the submarine sound receiver F as indicated at d. It also proceeds from E' to F as indicated at e or as an alternative directly to the indicator H as indicated at e. The reflected wave actuates sound receivergF and the sound is carried as by a path f to the indicator H. In case ath e is used, the sound waves which pass t rough e are also carried by path j to H..

The source of alternating current A may be any form of generator which will produce waves of the required frequency and will be capable of modification so as to create 0 with suflicient rapidity the changes, either in amplitude or frequency, which mark the beginning and end of an interval. In

my work I have found a 'pliotron or similar vacuum tubewhen used as a generator to be easily and rapidly controlled and as a'consequence, well suited for use with my invention, as indicated below, but any other source of energy may be employed.

The device B, used for varying the length of the period between changes, may be of various forms; the method of its operation can be illustrated by the arrangement shown ,in Fig. 3. In this figure A is the source of alternating current which is delivering'an alternating current of a constant frequency 1 say 1,000 alternations a second, to sound producer E. The resistance r in'circuit with tator m' on the periphery of a wheel and so arrange the circuits that brushes bearing upon the commutator will produce a short circuit about the resistance at definitely controllable intervals. Such an arrangement is shown in Fig. 3. Wires 11 and .j are run from each side of resistance 1' to brushes la and Z and .bear upon the periphery of a wheel n of insulating material revolving on shaft 0 which is supported by block p.- The segment of conducting-material .m is supported across the edge of the wheel 11. of insul'ating material and is so arrangedrelative to brushes 7c and Z that the shunt circuit about '1' is completed-with each revolution of wheel 71.. Wheel 1; is driven by wheel 8 which bears upon its face. W heel' s is connected by a shaft t with motor M, the .speed of which 5 u is constant. Shaft tiscapable of extension so that wheel 8 can bedrawn from the periphery of wheel n to near its center and it carries'fa pointer D which gives an indication on the scale C. When wheel a is near the periphery of; wheel 11. the time interval between the shunt circuiting of resistance 1' will be lon and this interval will be decreased as whee s approaches the center of wheel a and the. wheel a is driven faster. In this way'the length of time between impulses can be varied -by known amounts. If wheel 8'is moved in one direction or the other until the second impulse through paths "e' or e of Fig. 2 reaches H at the same instant that the first impulse by path 0 d f reaches H, the-depth of water beneath the ship is known and can be read directly from the pointer D and scale C showin face 0 n. This will be true for the reason that, as the speed of motor M is known, the position-of s on n will 've the speed of n and, consequently, the mterval between the impulses. Knowing the length of this interval, the depth beneath the ship 'for different intervals can be'readil calibrated.

In what I have said above I ave spOken only of the first and second change which mark respectively the beginning and'end' of an interval. It must be definitely-recognized that these changes are following 'one' another in rapid succession, each of which marks the beginning and end ,of a. time interval. What I use in carrying out my invention are the two changes which follow each other and care must be exercised in using the apparatus to make readings in such a way that one change and the nextsucceeding it only are observed atthe indicator.

In another apparatus for carrying out my method similar means of creating a controllable interval between a variation in sound conditions utilizes the type of mechanism'as shown in F ig.-8, except that in this case the arrangement of the part B is'such as is shown in Fig. i. In this case A isa vacuum tube oscillator and the wires i and j are taken from the terminals of seapacity or an inductance-or both in sucha manner that when segment m'short circuits them through contacts k andl the normal frerfiiency of the vacuum tubeoscilijator is slig tly changed. The interval between such chan s in frequency is carried out and its lengt measured in precisely the same manner as was described above. In this case the length of interval is cha d until'the frequency-changes of the soun waves arriving at the indicator occurs simultaneously. Another method of carrying out my invention is shownjn Figs. 5, 6 and 7.- Referring first to Fig. 5, A is a source of alternating current which is connectedby wire I) with the sound producer E and by wire e with the indicator H. M is a motor which revolves at a .uniform and known slpe'ed. Upon the shaft of the motor aretwo w eels, shown in greater detail in Figs. 6; and 7. Referrin .to Figs 6 and 7, and Oare the two whee s onc'o'nmutators shown in. Fig. 5 on eachof which is wound a single turn of the positionof wheel 8 upon the high resistance wireshown for convenience as bands u and y. One end of each of these wires u and y is connected to a conducting ring 1 and 2 respectively, each of which is mounted to turn with one of the wheels 0 and N upon the shaft of the motor M. Wire a connects the generator A with brushes w and 2. Brush w bears upon rin 1 on .wheel' 0 and brush'z upon r1ng2 0 wheel N. A brush 2; connected by wire 3.with the indicator H bears upon the high resistance wire a wound on the periphery of wheel 0 and brush 0 connected by the wire 4 with the sound producer E bears upon the high resistance wire 3/ of wheel N. By this arrangement it is apparent that as motor M revolves, the shaft with wheels 0 and N and rings 1 and 2 also revolves and varying sound producer and indicator respectively.

This results-in the introduction'into these circuits of varying resistance which change periodically the amplitudes of-the alternatmg current in aths 8 and 4V Brushes a and z of wheel in path b are fixed. Brush '0 of wheel 0 isad'ustable and can be given any position relative to the connection between ring 1 and its connection with highresistancewire ujon wheelO. .By this arran ment waves' of changes in current intensity are produced in sound producer E and receiver h. By shifting the position of brush 0 'on wheel 0 a delay relative to the changes in intensity in the circuit of which N isvra part can be made.

I The operation of this method-is similar to that described above. Periodic changes in amplitude are made which are a maximum at definite intervals, depending upon the speed of the commutator wheels. Where the am litude changes are synchronized at the indicator the amount by which the changes in one circuit delay behind those in the other at the source can be told by the difference in therelative positions of the brushes on the two commutators, thus enablin depth of water beneath the ship to rectly, read from a calibrated scale.

A- detailed description of the operation of the commutators N and O of Fig. 5 is given in the following Assume that the points of contact of the brushes in one instance are all in the same lane, those of the movable brushes v and '0" going in thesame lane with those of the fixed brushes w an a. I Under these conditions, as the commutators rotate clockwise leaking from the motorend m in Fig. 5, the resistances in circuit with the oscil ator the and with'themphone It will respectively g0 throu h peri same conditions of. theposition of the brushes, these changes will occcur similarly in eachrircuit' at the same time, so that if ic changes. Under the as-' the resistance per unit length of u equals that of y, the amount of resistance inseries with the oscillator E will during this peri: odic change'exactly equal at all times the re sistance in series with the phone h, resulting 1n the same characteristic appearmg 1n h at the same time as in the oscillator. The indications are thenin phase. Now if the brush a is assumed to bein a different position than in the plane with the other brushes as assumed above, these characteristics will not appear in phase. L v

Assumethat brush 0 is advanced in the direction of the rotation of the commutators 90. Then the phone circuit will already have a quarter of the total resistance, when the commutator for the oscillator is just beginning to introduce the resistance in its circuit, and thus the phone circuit will be a quarter of a cycle in advance of the oscillator circuit. When the phone circuit is just beginning to introduce its resistance, the oscillator will have three quarters of its resistance of the previous cycle still in circuit. And thus the angle formed in a vertical plane perpendicular to the plane of the figure, of the projection of the radii to the 4,800' feet per second, and that it is desired to find the scale reading of the device which.

indicates a depth of 100 fathoms. The length of the sound path in water will then be 2 X 100 f thoms or 1200. feet. This will requirejust one quarter of a second. It the commutator wheels are revolved at a speed of-,let us sayone revolution per second,

' the movable brush will have to be moved one quarter revolution from the fixed brush in the direction of rotation to delay the amplitude change one quarter of a seconds If the commutator speed was chosen at four revolutions per second, it is evldentpthat the brush would have to be moved. one full revolution.

The indicator which-is used with my de vice is any form-.which will show when waves of the same character reach it over the two paths at the sametime. Thus in the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, if the paths are electrical, path will terminate ina telephone receiver which will beheld at one ear of theobserver and path e will terminate-in another telephone receiver held at the other ear of the observer. In this case, B-wouldbe an electrical compensator so designed that the time of travel of the electrical sound waves through the compensa-tor could be made equal to those through path a d andthis would be ap arent y the cen'termg'of thesound image in the ch- ,in other well known ways.

- of the modulator or compensator servers brain. The compensator would be calibrated to show depths, and such calibration would be based upon the length of the path through the compensator, that is' to say, upon the time required for the sound to pass through the compensator. It is ob vious that this principle can be carried out Thus instead of making path 6 entirely electrical, it can-terminate in a telephone receiver-"or other sound producing device forming a ortion this caseB will be an air compensator and the path through the compensator from the telephone receiver or other sound producing device to the ear of the; listener will be air,the. path terminating in an acoustical ear piece. When an air compensator is used, the compensator B is so designed that the length of the air passage or passages within it can be varied in a well known way by known amountsuntil the times of arrival of the sounds .at the two ears of the observer are synchronous.

The indicators H used in the arrangements shown in Figs. 2 and 5 may also be one or two telephone receivers. Thus in the method of measuring distances illustrated in Fig. 2 there is a well defined maximum intensity of sound when succeeding impulses reach H synchronously. In this case, if ath e, is used the sound waves over 0' ming e with; those arriving over d and a single telephone receiver or two receivers each connected to f would be used. Similarly if path 6 is used, bot h e and 7 would be connected to the receivers and the observer would change the time between varia tions until a well defined maximum intensity of sound was heard.

In the method hown' in Figs. 4 and 5, the arrangement of apparatus is identical. In these cases, however, the phase'difierences in the sound waves over the two paths willbe noted rather more thandiflerences in. intensity.

While I have described the indicator as consisting of telephone receivers, any form of visual indicator which will show the synchronous arrival of like waves over the two paths may be used.

' What I claim as my invention is 1. A method of measuring the depth of a body of water which comprises the establishment of a signal producer and a receiver at a distance from each other, causing sounds at adjustable intervals from the producer to be directed to the bottom of the water and reflected therefrom and to be received by said receiver and transmitted, to an indicator, and causing signals from said producer to be sent directly to said indica tor, adjusting" and measuring the interval between the production of successive-sounds until the direct and signals are synchronized and translating the measurement of the amount of adjustmentinto units of distance.

2,. A method of measuring the depth of water which comprises the establishing of a signal source and an indicator at a known distance from each other, causing the source to emit signals which will pass to said indicator direct and also to the bottom of the water and back to said indicator, creating changes in the characteristics of said signals at intervals of controllable and determinable measurable length and measuring said length whereby the time of arrival of a signal of changed characteristics by the water path will be made synchronous with the time of arrival of the succeeding signal of changed characteristics over the nonwater path and the length of the time interval between said changes will be a measure of the depth ofthe water.

A method of measuring the depth of water beneath a floating body which comprises the originating ofsound waves and causing them to travel to an indicator, one portion of said waves traveling through the water to the bottom and being' reflected therefrom and another portion traveling directly to said indicator, creating periodically changes in the characteristics of said waves and controlling and measuring the length of the period between such changes so that the receipt of waves of like charactGILiSiPiCS will be synchronized and the time of transmission by the longer path will be greater by one period than the time oftransmission by the shorter path and the 'depth of water will be determmable by the measuring of the length of the period between the changes.

RICHARD D. FAY. 

